Purim 5784 - Amalek and Haman: Pride and Ego

00:00 The Rebbe once told a story at a Purim farbrengen, and repeated it several times at Purim farbrengens, in 5711 and 5728. It is a story passed down among chassidim from the time of the Mitteler Rebbe. As is well known, the Mitteler Rebbe directed chassidim to spread Chassidus, so that more Jews would come to recognize its value and it would reach every place possible. One of the rules the Mitteler Rebbe instituted was that when chassidim traveled to Lubavitch to be with the Rebbe, the condition for coming was that on their way back they would pass through the towns and repeat Chassidus. In those days, chassidim went to the Rebbe on foot or traveled by horse and wagon, passing through the towns. Chassidim lived in almost every town, so the condition for coming to the Rebbe was that, on the way back, they would gather for a chassidic farbrengen in each town, where a chossid who had been with the Rebbe would repeat the maamar he had heard. Not every chossid could repeat the whole maamar; some could repeat only part of it, and others could repeat even just a verse. But repeating Chassidus

01:31 was a central matter and a prerequisite for coming to the Rebbe. This was what the Mitteler Rebbe demanded, urged and pursued with passion: that the value of Chassidus become known everywhere. They tell of one of the great chassidim of the Mitteler Rebbe, a very wise, sharp and profound man, who knew a great deal of Chassidus and had a sharp way with words. He could repeat Chassidus well and convey it well, and when he spoke Chassidus, his listeners were deeply impressed and greatly enjoyed it. Once, this chossid came to the Mitteler Rebbe and said that he wanted to stop repeating Chassidus. The Rebbe asked him why. The chossid said that when he repeated Chassidus, the audience received his words and praised him, and this led him to pride and a sense of self-importance. That is the very opposite of Chassidus. Chassidus was given so that a person could attain bittul; Chassidus means negating one’s sense of self—being less wrapped up in oneself, less self-important, less proud, and devoting oneself to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Yet here, precisely because he repeated Chassidus, his pride and sense of self-importance increased—the very opposite of Chassidus. So he wanted to stop repeating Chassidus. The Mitteler Rebbe replied, in words the Rebbe repeated many times: “So you’ll become an onion, but repeat Chassidus.” What does “So you’ll become an onion, but repeat Chassidus” mean? There are several

02:57 explanations. The simple explanation, which the Rebbe once repeated and explained at a farbrengen, is this: Look at an onion. On its own, raw and just as it is, it is sharp and bitter, and not tasty. But when you put an onion into a dish, on the contrary, it sweetens it and makes the dish tastier, sweeter and much better. That is what the Mitteler Rebbe meant: True, your own pride and sense of self-importance increase—bitter like an onion. But through this, you sweeten things for others. You give to other Jews, enlighten them, enliven them, sweeten things for them and give them a taste for Chassidus. So become an onion, as long as you repeat Chassidus. And this is a central point in the story of Purim, in the story of the Megillah: “Become an onion, but still repeat Chassidus.” There is also [unclear] a teaching of the Alter Rebbe, whose words we will repeat [unclear] this entire foundation, and then a teaching of the Rebbe, also a wonderful explanation, [unclear]. I want to dwell on this story. When I come to the Mitteler Rebbe and explain to him what the lesson of Purim is—this is the central point. In general, this is Chassidus: we learn a lesson from Purim. What is the lesson?

04:32 When we speak about Amalek and Haman, there is something very striking here. The Rebbe explains it, and this helps us understand the essence of the kelipah of Amalek and the kelipah of Haman: arrogance, pride and a sense of self-importance. About Amalek it says, “Amalek is the first of the nations,” as explained in several maamarim. “Amalek is the first of the nations”: Amalek is not just another nation, just another force on the opposing side. He is “the first of the nations”—the head, the source and the cause of all bad character traits. He is the head. The Rebbe explains in several places that the seven nations represent seven bad character traits. Those are particular traits—bad character traits of the opposing side, connected with worldly matters. And the Rebbe explains “the first of the nations”: the cause and source of all the nations is arrogance, pride and a sense of self-importance. That is what Amalek is about, and pride and self-importance are the cause and source of all bad character traits. This is explained in Chassidus in many maamarim on the subject. From pride and self-importance, from a heightened sense of oneself, come the tendencies toward bad character traits. All bad character traits stem from a person’s feeling of pride and self-importance. That is the foundation of the kelipah of Amalek. And we find this in Haman. Haman is the symbol, the very embodiment, of pride and self-importance. We read the Megillah and see that this is the whole point with Haman: “King Achashverosh elevated Haman,” and people “bowed and prostrated themselves before Haman.” All of Haman’s hatred for the Jewish people arose because he saw that Mordechai “would not bow or prostrate himself.” His whole being was pride and self-importance. “Yet all this is worth nothing to me whenever I see Mordechai the Jew.”

06:30 He saw a Jew whose whole being was bittul, a Jew who “would not bow or prostrate himself.” Chassidus explains that a Jew expresses bittul and G-dliness—the very opposite. That was the source of Haman’s hatred, because he was utterly consumed by pride. And we see later in the story: when Haman comes before the king and the king asks, “What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?” what does Haman answer? “Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?” That was the height of self-importance: “Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?” The height of pride, the height of self-importance. Mordechai is precisely the opposite. He is the very essence of bittul, the source of bittul, as the Rebbe explains in several places. The whole story of Purim brings out this point: here is the opposite, here is bittul, and this is what Jews have. This is the Jew, the opposite of what the enemy had—pride and self-importance, “Amalek is the first of the nations,” the essence of Amalek and of Haman. And this is what Chassidus is about in general. The truth is that in the maamarim, the Rebbe speaks about the avodah: What is the avodah? What do we take from this? What is the avodah at this time? Reading Parshas Zachor, “You shall utterly erase the memory of Amalek,” and Purim, the whole matter of reading the Megillah—that is what it is about. “Hashem will wage war against Amalek from generation to generation.” The Rebbe says that these are thoughts of self-importance, thoughts of arrogance. And “from generation to generation” means, as he explains, in each person according to his level. The Rebbe says that even among those who serve Hashem, there is an element of self-importance and arrogance, each person according to his spiritual level. Our avodah must therefore be to negate that sense of self. That is the opposite, and that is what we learn from the Megillah. That is one side of it.

08:29 Then the Alter Rebbe comes and says: There is a maamar on “And the garment and the horse were brought, and Haman took the garment and the horse.” There are several maamarim of the Alter Rebbe on this story. And the Alter Rebbe helps us understand an extraordinary point. Alongside what we find throughout the story of the Megillah about Haman, beginning with his rise to power, we also find in the Megillah the account of “Haman took the garment and the horse.” What is being emphasized by “Haman took” and “he dressed Mordechai in it”? The Alter Rebbe says there is a point here. Achashverosh—as is known, Achashverosh alludes to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. As the Gemara says, “the king” in the Megillah refers to the King of the world; and Achashverosh, as brought in the discourses, means that “the end and the beginning are His”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who rules over every beginning and end, over all the worlds. The whole story of the Megillah is, after all, a story connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the way Hakadosh Boruch Hu deals with Jews during exile. The Alter Rebbe explains what we see in the Megillah: Haman is there, and King Achashverosh says to Haman, “Hurry, take the garment and the horse, and dress Mordechai in it.” What is the point of this? There needs to be a kind of pride in holiness: “His heart was uplifted in the ways of Hashem.” On the one hand, there are forms of pride and self-importance

10:07 that must be eradicated. But there are aspects of pride and self-importance that are the opposite: they help in serving Hashem. This is the meaning of “Haman took the garment and the horse and dressed Mordechai”: from Haman—the source of pride, coarseness, and self-importance, from that aspect of kelipah and the sitra achra—we take the garment and the horse and dress Mordechai in them. In other words, we must use pride and self-importance, transform them, and bring them into the realm of holiness. What do pride and self-importance look like in the realm of holiness? The Alter Rebbe explains this through what the Gemara says in Sotah. The Gemara says that a Torah scholar must have “an eighth of an eighth.” In other words, there is something a Torah scholar needs to have: an eighth of an eighth. That means a tiny drop, an eighth of an eighth of pride—one sixty-fourth. Eight times eight is sixty-four. An eighth of an eighth is one sixty-fourth. Yes. That is the eighth of an eighth of pride that a Torah scholar needs to have. And how does the Gemara describe it? It says that this eighth of an eighth is “like the awns around a stalk of grain.” What does that mean? When you look at grain, you see a stalk with kernels on it. But there is also a kind of little crown around the stalk, around those parts. And that little crown, those awns, protects

11:41 the stalk. The Rebbe explains: Yes, in the physical sense, the stalk contains wheat, which will be used as human food; that is the main fruit. But while it is growing, there is sun, there is rain, and there are all kinds of things that could damage the wheat. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the awns around the stalk, a kind of little crown—those things that grow around the wheat, the husks and so on—a covering that protects it from damage so that the wheat can grow as it should. That is the analogy here. What does it represent? The Alter Rebbe explains that this is a point in serving Hashem. Certainly, serving Hashem requires utter bittul, and that is what it means to be a Torah scholar. The Alter Rebbe says that chochmah is koach mah; koach mah means the nullification of one’s own existence, as Moshe Rabbeinu said, “What are we?” Serving Hashem requires utter bittul, and [unclear]. In other words, I am nothing; there is only Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and [unclear]. But at the beginning of a person’s service, while he is growing, he is like the wheat. As it grows, all kinds of things can come along and destroy it. But Hakadosh Boruch Hu created wheat with awns, yes, that little crown that protects it. It is not the main thing; it is secondary. But the wheat needs it while it grows, so that it will not break, and when the sun comes out. It protects the fruit. Later, it grows and disappears; the wheat is used

13:17 [unclear]. On the contrary, it should not simply be discarded. After all, everything it did was for the wheat: sometimes it is not enough to have the wheat alone, and there is no need to uproot the whole thing. But while the wheat is growing, it matters. The same is true in serving Hashem: when a person begins to grow and enter the realm of holiness, he wants to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to be a G-d-fearing Jew and devote himself to serving Hashem. Then all kinds of confusion, concealments, and obstacles begin. Questions arise: “Who am I? What am I? Who am I to merit serving Hakadosh Boruch Hu?” One must serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but a person discovers that it is very difficult; there is a yetzer hara and all kinds of things trying to bring him down. These are all tactics of the yetzer hara, which seeks to drag a person down and tells him: “When people speak about attaining an understanding of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, they mean a very high level.” Yes, it is very high; it has nothing to do with you. The Rebbe once said at a Purim farbrengen: Why did Haman want to hang Mordechai on a gallows fifty cubits high? What does Mordechai have to do with fifty cubits? Those are lofty levels, not something ordinary. There was a spiritual meaning to it: Haman wanted to say, “Mordechai, that holy man, that great holy man, belongs at fifty cubits, on lofty levels; that is not for us.” How could I reach the level of such a great tzaddik? That was Haman’s spiritual message, expressed by the gallows fifty cubits high. The same applies here: the yetzer hara sometimes stirs up despondency. It presents serving Hashem as so lofty and exalted that a person feels, “I cannot reach that.” And sometimes it does the opposite: it belittles a person, brings him down, and makes him doubt whether he even has the right. It makes him feel that he

15:03 [unclear]. And the Rebbe sets this against Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What is the danger? A person could come to withdraw entirely; he could come close to that. Therefore, at the beginning of one’s service, one needs to bring in pride and self-importance. This pride and self-importance are self-importance of holiness. This is [unclear]: I am a Jew; my service of Hashem matters; Hakadosh Boruch Hu needs my service; Torah and mitzvos matter to Hakadosh Boruch Hu; and when I speak with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, He rejoices. After all, it says, “May Hashem rejoice in His works,” and “May Yisroel rejoice in his Maker.” These are true things, and at the beginning of one’s service a person must hold on to them so that his service can begin and grow. This protects him from falling, from sinking into lowliness, from falling into [unclear] in his service of Hashem. On the contrary, it lifts his spirits. When a person reaches a different level—after passing the beginning stage, making progress, and attaining a state of cleaving to G-dliness—then, as the Gemara says, no trace should remain of the pride and self-importance he needed at the beginning. And this is the story of Purim. Although Haman does indeed represent self-importance and pride, which are utterly out of place in serving Hashem, this garment can nevertheless be used: Haman represents pride and self-importance in serving Hashem. Yes, it is meant to give a person [unclear]. If Hakadosh Boruch Hu

16:52 [unclear] his service of Hashem. The Rebbe develops this point at the farbrengen, [unclear] this wonderful point in the Megillah. And chassidim dwell on it. It is brought in several [unclear] concerning these two points. When the victory came and Haman was hanged on the gallows fifty cubits high, the Megillah then relates that Achashverosh took Haman’s house and gave it to Queen Esther. Yes, as it says later: “I have given Haman’s house to Esther,” “and they hanged him on the gallows.” An apparently strong question arises: How could Mordechai and Esther enter Haman’s house? Haman was from Amalek. Of Amalek it is said that everything must be utterly destroyed; everything of theirs must be wiped out completely, so that nothing of Amalek remains. And Rashi explains in Chumash that Amalek must be wiped out completely, even their possessions, so that the name of Amalek will not remain. Everything must be destroyed and uprooted entirely. But Haman’s house belonged to Amalek; this house, Haman’s house, was Amalek’s. How could Mordechai and Esther live in Haman’s house? He asks: We know the account brought in the Gemara and the Midrashim that the whole reason Haman came into the world was that Amalek had not been completely uprooted in the days of King Shaul. And Shaul was one of Mordechai’s ancestors—“Mordechai son of Yair, son of Shimi, son of Kish”; Mordechai was a descendant of King Shaul. Because he did not uproot Amalek completely and did not fulfill the command as he should have, Haman was born, as everyone knows from the Midrashim. And now Mordechai and Esther come and settle where? In Haman’s house. How could they do that? Is that possible according to halachah?

18:56 The explanation is brought in [unclear]: Haman was executed by royal decree, and the law is that when a person is executed by royal decree, all his possessions automatically pass to the king. If he is executed by royal decree, his possessions belong to the crown. So, since Achashverosh hanged Haman on the gallows, he had been executed by royal decree, and his possessions automatically passed to the house of Achashverosh; they ceased to be Haman’s possessions. From then on, Mordechai and Esther could settle in that house. This is the meaning of the verse: “I have given Haman’s house to Esther, and they hanged him on the gallows.” Why does it say here, “and they hanged him on the gallows”? What does that have to do with this? It happened earlier; what is the verse telling us here? This is the explanation: “I have given Haman’s house to Esther.” But how can Esther enter and live in the house of Haman the Amalekite? The answer is: “And they hanged him on the gallows.” From the moment Haman was hanged on the gallows, his possessions became Achashverosh’s property. Now Mordechai and Esther could enter and live in that house. So that is the explanation; we have looked at the halachah. What is the lesson here in serving Hashem [unclear], as mentioned above? What is the allusion here? What is the lesson? What does this teach us, the

20:26 The Megillah? Does reading the Megillah get in the way? That doesn’t make sense. The story of the Megillah is not something that happened once upon a time; it is a story happening now, and we need this story today. What does it symbolize? What is the lesson here? The point we spoke about is Haman—the matter of pride and self-importance. It is a thoroughly inflated force called pride and self-importance. “Every haughty heart is an abomination to Hashem.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu cannot tolerate it. “I and he cannot dwell together,” as the Gemara says. Yet the Megillah comes and tells us something remarkable: at the beginning of one’s service, and at certain times, the Torah tells us the opposite—we need to make use of pride. It lifts a person’s spirits, gives strength, and helps in various aspects of serving Hashem. Then it becomes something holy: “His heart was elevated in the ways of Hashem.” And when this comes down to halachah, the Rema cites it, [unclear] cites it. I have spoken several times about this halachah. It is the halachah in a responsum of the Rashba concerning “It is a mitzvah to publicize those who perform a mitzvah.” Seemingly, how can it be a mitzvah to publicize those who perform a mitzvah? Doesn’t that lead to pride and self-importance? He brings this from the Midrash: Had Reuven—Reuven the son of Yaakov, one of the tribes—known that his name would be written in the Torah for saving Yosef, he would have done much more than he did. In other words,

22:01 this applies to every person: when he knows that what he does will be publicized, it adds something for him; it gives him motivation. Working with the evil inclination—they did it with the evil inclination—and that is a great, powerful force. That is what this story, the story we are discussing here, is about. Seemingly, how can one say, “It is a mitzvah to publicize those who perform a mitzvah”? That is pride and self-importance. The Torah comes and says that this is the point: when [unclear] came into Achashverosh’s possession, [unclear], into the possession of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When Haman’s house—this pride and self-importance—comes into Achashverosh’s possession. In other words, the Shulchan Aruch, the Torah, says: for this we need an element of pride; for this we need [unclear]; for this we need “It is a mitzvah to publicize those who perform a mitzvah”; for this we need [unclear] of the world—to make use of it. Then that pride becomes something G-dly, something holy. Then Mordechai and Esther can take it and turn it into a means of serving Hashem. This is the lesson we take from Purim for the entire year. What practical lesson must we take from Purim? We see here that, on the one hand, there is the matter of wiping out Amalek. Serving Hashem calls for making use of this, while the story of the Megillah calls for uprooting pride and self-importance and devoting oneself with

23:24 bittul to G-dliness. That is what we see from the Megillah. At the same time, the Megillah teaches us that when it helps, when these things are used for the right purpose, then on the contrary, we should use “his heart was elevated”—use pride and self-importance to enter into the service of Hashem. Then the thing itself becomes a matter of “Haman’s house was given to Esther”; it becomes a means of serving Hashem. And through this, on the contrary, there is an increase in Yiddishkeit, in Torah and mitzvos, in “spreading your wellsprings outward,” in all matters of light and G-dliness, so that the influence from Above can flow down. The main thing is to bring it into actual practice, to take it out of Purim. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu indeed help that “the Jews had light and joy, gladness and honor”; may we see these things and take the full meaning of the story from our celebration of Purim. It should not remain merely a story as it unfolds in the Megillah—that is the new point; it should continue to live afterward, with joy, even more than on a Yom Tov. May it be a true Yom Tov, and may we merit the fullness of accepting the Torah. And as we said here, when Purim comes, “Whoever extends a hand is given to.” May the Rebbe give. After all, all Jews are extending their hands in supplication to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. May the complete Geulah come already, and may the Rebbe give to every Jew, yes,

24:54 today as well, in every matter, materially and spiritually. And may there be a true “it was turned around,” as there was for the Jews in the miracle of Purim. May we merit the true Purim miracle in its fullest perfection, with the complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu.